


Tiny Arthur's Big Adventure

by rivendellelve



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, as in shrunk!Arthur, charthur if you squint, tiny!Arthur
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:56:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22418872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rivendellelve/pseuds/rivendellelve
Summary: Arthur accidentally pisses off a witch and winds up a few feet shorter. Good thing Charles is there to help.
Comments: 51
Kudos: 23





	Tiny Arthur's Big Adventure

This was the last time he listened to Uncle. About anything. Ever. Even if Uncle told him his hat was on fire he would wait for a more reliable source. He tore through the underbrush, ducking a low hanging branch, and desperately hoping they wouldn't hit a tree. Quick and lithe as his little Arabian was, even she was having trouble navigating the thick forest. The only upside to this was, he couldn't hear the bounty hunters anymore, their horses most likely not as agile as his.

Breaking through the trees the low hanging sun blinded him for a second and when he could see again he immediately pulled Artemis to a stop, coming to a halt only inches away from someone.

“Woah girl, easy!” Arthur spun around, getting a good look at the tiny old woman he almost hit.

“Sorry ma'am, didn't see you there”, he offered, out of breath and already pulling Artemis around. He did not have time to waste.

“I should say so”, she drew herself up to her not very impressive full height, “The way you were racing – you could've killed me!”

He was pretty sure he heard shouting in the distance, frayed nerves making his temper even shorter than usual. “Look, I said I was sorry! If you don't want to get run over, don't stand in the middle of the god damn street!”

Oh boy, if looks could kill, he might have dropped dead then and there. As it was he'd probably regret being an asshole once he was safe but right now he only cared about getting out of this alive so he kicked his mare's flanks and sped down the road.

“Oh you will be sorry!” He heard the woman yell after him. Though he did not waste another thought, escaping bounty hunters being far more important than angry old ladies. Not like she could do anything about it anyway, unlike those after him. There was a great many things they could do to him and none of them were nice. He followed the road until he reached a bend where he veered into another forest.

Artemis was panting and sweating by the time he pulled her to a stop again.

“I'm sorry, girl.” He petted her neck. “I think we got away for now.”

He took his time brushing her and gave her extra treats. After a day like this they could both use a break. And because lighting a fire seemed like an unnecessary risk, he simply unrolled his sleeping bag and settled in for the night, sleeping finding him as soon as he closed his eyes.

The next morning was… weird. Something seemed off when he opened his eyes though he couldn't quite put his finger on what exactly. Had he camped on such a large clearing last night? And for that matter, now that he looked around, he didn't not remember the trees being that tall or the grass that high. Arthur rubbed his eyes.

The world failed to magically shrink back to normal size.

“Jesus...”

He got up, legs feeling somewhat unsteady, off balance. As if he had too much to drink, though it might also have something to do with the world looking different. He rubbed his eyes. Either the entire world had magically grown twenty times over night or he had shrunk down to the size of squirrel. Which made Artemis what? Rabbit-sized? He wasn't sure. She seemed fine at least. He supposed if he woke up and found himself surrounded by food almost as tall as him, he too might think he was in heaven. He turned to grab his sleeping bag.

Although, there was a rabbit staring right at him, maybe twenty feet away – or probably less since he was not his usual height – and he changed his mind. His food being as tall as him was actually terrifying and he would like to go back to normal thank you very much. Packing up his things and saddling Artemis while keeping a very close eye on the rabbit he weighed his options.

He could try and make his way back to camp. Which was a day's ride from here for big people so who knows how long for him. Or he could retrace his steps – try and figure out why in the world he had been turned into a garden gnome. Had he touched anything weird trying to rob the homestead yesterday? Had he ridden through some cursed spiderweb while escaping the bounty hunters? Had he – He had pissed of that old lady. And she had said something him being sorry, hadn't she? He groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. Somehow, when he pictured his big mouth getting him into trouble, he always thought it would cost him teeth and possibly earn him a concussion. Not this.

He had to find that old woman again.

Mounting Artemis he made up his mind. The gang had enough problems without adding whatever he had gotten himself into to the mix. Besides the only thing he'd achieve would be making everyone worried and getting mocked by Williamson. Not something he'd look forward to. So that only left him with the option of cleaning up his own damn mess.

He turned west, toward where he remembered the road to be. The bundles of grass looked very much like bushes now and the yarrow growing here and there might as well be a young tree. He had read descriptions of the jungle in South America and he wondered if this was how things looked like. He sure as hell hoped he wouldn't get jumped by a jaguar or a gigantic snake. Or in his case a house-cat and a regular rattler. He urged Artemis to go faster.

Everything seemed a lot further away. He was sure he had ridden east yesterday but nothing seemed familiar. Had he jumped the fallen tree that he was now forced to walk around? He didn't think so. If he got lost here he could kiss any chance of finding that woman goodbye. Hell, he might never make it out of this forest. Not before he got eaten by something or trampled to death or starved because he could only hunt mice. Did his rifle even work at this size?

Sensing his distress Artemis whinnied nervously, so kicked her into a gallop. The ground still became a blur beneath him but the trees seemed almost stationary, like mountains in the distance. He urged Artemis to go faster. It wasn't until she almost stumbled that he reigned her in. It wasn't her fault they were going nowhere fast.

“I'm sorry girl”, Arthur told her, stroking her neck. “You're alright.”

Rummaging through his satchel he pulled out a sugar cube and held it out for Artemis to take. Wasn't her fault they were in this mess. They continued at a more leisurely pace, until he could finally see the road some time around noon. It seemed like he had missed the bend where he had broken of into the trees and instead had come out much closer to where he had run into the old woman. Almost literally, too. And although the dirt-path stretched from one end of the horizon until it disappeared between the trees at the other end, he felt a lot more confident than this morning. They'd be okay now.

“Guess the good thing about being small is, won't be hard to pick up her trail, seeing as we're about as big as any tracks she left”, he mused.

Artemis snorted.

“Yeah, we're also a lot closer to the ground. Don't have to get off your back to look either.”

He followed the path at an easy canter, searching for the telltale-signs of footsteps between the hoof prints and occasional paw print. Since the mud in the middle of the road was giving his tiny mare trouble, he steered her closer to the side, to the more solid ground. Straining his eyes he managed to find a single footprint and then another incomplete one, half destroyed by hooves, and beyond that another one.

It had to be her. Emerald Ranch was too far for a farmhand to have made their way here and no one in their right mind would try and cross the Grizzlies on foot. Except for old women who shrank people, apparently. So he went with the odds and folowed the tracks. One thing he realized soon was that while being smaller meant being closer the the ground and therefore seeing everything clearer, it also meant that the next footprint was a lot further away and therefore a lot harder to spot. He was so focused on not losing the trail, everything else only registering as dim background noise, he didn't even notice another rider approaching from behind until Artemis alerted him with a nervous whinny.

With the sun standing high all he saw was the giant's silhouette with no way of knowing whether he had been spotted or not. At the risk of looking like the weirdest rabbit alive he kicked his mare's flanks and they darted behind the nearest tree, hoping to stay unnoticed. Though the stranger might be able to help, he didn't want to risk running into the wrong person while being more or less helpless. If things turned to worse he could try and find a rabbit hole.

The hoofbeats got closer as he waited with bated breath. They stopped. Someone dismounted, destroying any hope he had had about going unnoticed and he prepared himself to make a run for it.

“Hello?”, a familiar voice called out. “Anyone here?”

“ _Charles_?” He left his hiding place. “What are you doing here?”

“Arthur? Is that you?” Charles crouched in front of him and Artemis.

“Yeah, it's me.” He couldn't help but feel chagrined at the fact that - even on a horse – he was didn't even reach Charles' knee. He scratched the back of his neck. “I kinda ran into a bit of trouble.”

Charles raised his eyebrow. “This looks like more than a bit of trouble. I think you'll have to explain.”

“Uh yeah, sure. But we need to follow these footprints.” He looked back at the road and hesitated, unsure how to continue.

“Do you need a hand?”, Charles offered, saving him from asking.

“That'd be great.”

They stared at each other.

“Uh… let me just”, Charles started, reaching down to take Artemis (and subsequently Arthur) into his hands but the mare shied away, whinnying nervously and dancing in place.

“That's not gonna work.” Awesome.

“No, probably not. But I have an idea.”

Charles stood and walked over to Taima to rummage in her saddlebag. What exactly he was looking for, Arthur wasn't sure, though he seemed to have found it and was doing something behind Taima's back. When he returned he was holding something wrapped in a cloth. Kneeling down in front of him Charles spread the cloth on the ground and revealed the book lying in the middle.

Realizing what Charles was planning he steered Artemis forward and had her step onto the book that would make a nice little platform to lift her with. As long as it was held steady. Charles moved to grab the cloth's edge but stopped, looking at Arthur with a concern clearly written across his face.

“Maybe it'd be better if you weren't sitting on her”, he suggested.

Artur furrowed his brow. “I don't know. I think she'll feel calmer if I stay with her”, he said stroking her neck.

“But if she panics I don't want you getting hurt.”

He had a point. And more importantly Charles did not look as if he would budge on this. Sighing Arthur dismounted, fishing out another sugar cube for Artemis. If she was going to have to do this alone he could at least give her this. Heck, once this was over she'd get all the sugar cubes.

“Stay here, girl”, he told her, gently rubbing her nose, before stepping away and off of the cloth. Charles took hold of the edges again, two in each hand, and started lifting slowly, carefully, giving Artemis time to adjust, until he had her bundled up nice and safe with the book providing solid ground to stand on.

Arthur watched as Charles stood and left, getting something else from Taima. Yet for a brief moment, irrational as it was, Arthur couldn't help but fear Charles would leave him. Small and helpless and _useless_ as he was. But then Charles came back, with Artemis tied securely to his chest and he shook his head at his own foolishness.

“You ready?”, Charles asked him, holding out his flat hand.

“Uh, sure.” He rubbed his suddenly sweaty hands on his pants before putting one foot on Charles' hand. Slowly he tried putting weight on his right leg but stumbled back, the feeling of flesh beneath his boot too strange and unsettling to bear on top of the overall strangeness of the day. Frustrated with himself he took a deep breath and stepped on Charles' hand with both legs, despite the queasiness in his stomach.

Even though Charles was being careful, the moment the hand moved, Arthur lost his already precarious balance and fell forward, breath catching in his throat and fully expecting to faceplant when a hand around his torso steadied him.

“Maybe we should try something else”, Charles suggested.

The thought of being trapped in his very own nice little box crossed his mind.

“No, this'll be fine”, Arthur insisted, though given how he was holding on to Charles' hand for dear life, he was probably not as convincing as he thought.

“Just let me sit on your shoulder and I'll hold on to your collar. Be a lot safer that way than in your satchel”, he added for emphasis.

Charles gave him a skeptical look but relented and lifted him up on his shoulder, letting him climb off of his hand. He crawled onto Charles and then hooked one arm over the edge of the collar while grabbing its edge with his other hand, giving him a better hold than he had on some train robberies. Though that didn't say much. He had fallen off a train before.

When Charles stood he had to suppress a curse and close his eyes at the sudden acceleration and altitude, grip tightening even more. Another jolt and they were both on Taima, though he didn't dare opening his eyes just yet.

“You going to tell me whatever happened to you?”

Arthur blinked his eyes open, took a steadying breath and recounted his latest mishaps from the failed robbery and the bounty hunters right up to the moment he woke up pint-sized. At the very least he managed to distract himself from the height.

“And you think this woman cursed you?”

“It's the only thing that makes sense. As much as anything makes sense anymore”, he added with a shrug.

“Alright, then we'll keep looking.”

They kept riding in companionable silence until a thought struck him.

“So, you never actually told me what you were doing here.”

“Dutch sent me to find you. He wanted your help for something. Though somehow I imagine that it'll have to wait. I don't-” Charles paused., straightening in his saddle.

“Someone's coming”, he told Arthur. “You have to hide!”

Before Arthur had a chance to respond beyond a half-formed “wha-?” Charles had already grabbed him and stuffed him inside his coat. Pressed tightly against Charles' chest and held securely in place by the hand Charles had placed on top of his coat underneath his feet he felt quite like misbehaved a calf trussed up during a roundup. He reached out to take hold of Charles' necklace to have something to hold on to.

Soon he heard the muffled sound of voices getting closer, though he could not make out what they were saying. Yet by the way Charles tensed they weren't the pleasant sort.

“Hey! You there! Did you see a man on a white horse?”

His heart jumped into his throat, recognizing the voice of the bounty hunter, blood rushing in his ears. He almost didn't hear Charles' answer. If they knew about the gang, knew about Charles, they were screwed, screwed, royally screwed. And all because he messed up. What was wrong with him not being able to do one simple robbery? He wondered if his pea-sized revolver would be able to hurt them if it came to that.

Pressed up against Charles' chest he couldn't do much except wait and listen for the sound of trouble. And Charles' heartbeat. Which was oddly calming. Not that he'd admit it of course. At the very least he could no longer hear them, though that was only a small comfort. Maybe they were silently scheming. The coat shifted slightly, opening up and he felt a hand at his back.

“I'm going to get you out now”, Charles told him, though he waited until Arthur agreed to grab hold of him. The hand closed around his middle, index finger and thumb hooked under his armpits. Once he was out of the coat, Charles' other hand came up to support his feet and he was being lifted up to Charles' shoulder, where he latched on to the collar again. Somehow, he felt even smaller than before. Or maybe just more helpless and vulnerable after the vivid reminder that his enemies were still out there and looking for him.

“You okay?”

“I'm fine”, Arthur lied.

“We can take a break if you want.”

“No, we gotta keep going.”

Charles hmmd.

“Alright, but just say the word and we'll stop.”

Once again they set off, Charles easily picking up the trail again. They did not have to keep going for long until they spotted another person on the road. And this one didn't have a horse. Arthur pulled himself up and stood, leaning forward slightly.

“Charles!”

“This her?”

“I think so.”

“How do you want to do this?”

“I don't know”, Arthur scratched his head. “I don't think antagonizing her would be a good idea. If she can shrink people who knows what else she can do.”

He looked at Charles. “Maybe you should sit this one out.”

At this distance Charles' eyebrow raise looked rather impressive.

“I am not going to let you do this alone. Also, I'm pretty sure she can walk faster than you can run. You need me.”

As if to drive his point home Charles kicked Taima's flanks and set off at an easy canter, easily catching up to the woman. She definitely had to have noticed them now. Nothing for it. Squaring his shoulders he took a deep breath.

“Excuse me, ma'am. Behind you.”

When the woman turned around to face them he swore he saw her smile before adopting a more neutral expression.

“Lovely day for a stroll, isn't it? Even if the road feels long sometimes. Especially for us little people.” Definitely sounding smug.

“Did you turn my friend into this?”

“Who me?”, she asked acting innocent. “How would a harmless old lady like me do such a thing? _Small_ chance of that wouldn't you say?” Positively mocking now.

Arthur cleared his throat. “Yeah, could you turn me back? I am sorry for almost running you over. And snapping at you. And saying you deserve to get run over for being on the road. So could you kindly undo whatever it is you done?” Maybe if he apoligzed and stroked her ago a bit he'd get of easy.

She gave him a calculating look. “I don't know.”

“At least my horse, then. Ain't her fault she got me for a rider.”

That seemed to amuse her. “Alright then. Let's play a game shall we.”

Suddenly she was surrounded by wind strong enough to knock him over, making him lose his hold on Charles' collar. He didn't even have breath to scream as he slid off but Charles reacted just in time and grabbed him around the waist at an awkward angle that unfortunately now left Charles off balance. So when Taima reared in fright they both landed on the ground, Arthur still clutched in Charles' hand and pressed to his chest. The wind gained in power, tearing at them.

Through his raised arms he saw the bundle holding Artemis levitating into the air and hovering in front of the witch. She reached into the bag, pulling out the terrified mare and spoke words he couldn't hear before setting Artemis down. Before his eyes the mare grew until she was roughly cat-sized at which point the witch clapped her hands twice, scaring his horse into taking off.

“Here's the deal”, she told them still surrounded by a miniature storm, “You find that horse before the sun rises tomorrow and you're back to normal. Don't and you're stuck like that.” She turned her back on them.

“Also that horse will be mine”, she added.

He heard the sound of a gun being cocked.

“How about you turn him back now or I'll shoot you right where you stand”, Charles growled.

“I'd like to see you try.” With that the wind picked up once more, kicking up dust and dirt, and when he could see again, she was gone.

“Jesus”, he swore. “That went well.”

“You can say that again.”

“You alright?”

“Probably gonna have some bruises but that's it.” Charles released his vice-like grip on Arthur, lifting him back up on his shoulder again as he stood, though not yet letting entirely go. “You?”

“About the same.” He shrugged. “Is it me or is it getting foggier by the minute?”

The clear sky from moments ago was already hidden behind dark clouds and it seemed as if mist was rising from the very ground.

“We should hurry.”

They tracked down Taima, who despite clearly being unnerved by the previous events dutifully came when Charles whistled. After that they got to work tracking down a cat-sized horse, unfortunately that meant walking – for Charles at the very least – while Taima followed them, the miniature hoofprints not clear enough to easily follow. Yet although they were hardly visible, with Charles' experience they managed, until they left the forest and came to the stony underground of the mountains. No amount of searching could provide further tracks on the barren stone. Even a full-sized horse would likely not have left any tracks. With no option but to search blindly, hoping to get lucky, they kept going. At the very least some paths were too steep or rocky for Artemis to have taken so they had a vague idea where to go. Which narrowed the possibilities down from everywhere to about half that.

Arthur frowned. Not being able to help much – unless he wanted to point out the obvious to Charles – he could only observe and became acutely aware of how Charles' right hand was still lying on top his legs. Hadn't left him since Arthur sat down on his shoulder. And while he appreciated the concern, actually felt a lot safer for it after nearly falling of, the position couldn't be very comfortable. He patted Charles.

“You can let go, you know. Ain't gonna fall.”

Charles glanced at him. “Do you want me to?” His hand lifted slightly, hovering just above his legs.

“No”, he shook his head “no, it's just – your arm's gotta be cramping, holding it like that.”

“My arm's fine.“

The hand was back on his legs. They kept going north, fog growing thicker by the minute, until they reached a road cutting through the mountain. It wasn't until they were standing right in the middle of it that he realized there was grass on the other side and not the sheer cliffs he had somehow expected. So where the hell was that horse.

“Give me a minute”, Charles told him before gently taking him off his shoulder and setting him down. Arthur watched him as he crouched low, searching for clues. Not wanting to just stand around twiddling his thumbs he, too started looking. On the bright side he didn't have to crouch. Not that it helped because there was nothing to find. He rubbed his face.

“Find anything?”

“No”, Charles shook his head. “Nothing.”

“What are we going to do now?”

Charles stood and turned to him. “Should we backtrack and try again?”

Should they? He looked back, calculating. They might find something they missed the first time and the fog wasn't quite as thick back there so-

“I think I know where we need to go.”

Charles looked at him quizzically.

“Remember how that witch somehow summoned this fog? And how it's been getting thicker the further we go? I think if we try and reach the heart of it we'll find something.”

Charles seemed to contemplate something. “Seems worth a try”, he said at last before scooping Arthur up and turning north toward the grassy slope. On the other side of the road the fog seemed almost solid, as if they had crossed an invisible barrier and now something was actively trying to stop them. They were definitely on the right track. Out of nowhere trees appeared before them, tall and dark and seemingly endless. Not ominous at all.

The sound of a snapping branch startled him, head whipping around but not finding anything.

“Probably just an animal”, Charles told him, hand on his gun.

“Yeah.”

The trees stood closer the further they went, dark shadows slowly transforming into one massive wall. He almost suggested turning around but then they got close enough to really see. What he had thought to be a cluster of trees was actually a makeshift shelter nestled between trunks. Definitely worth checking out. Charles took a moment to tie Taima to a tree before entering. A bundle of dried herbs was hanging by the entrance and beyond thatthere were a variety of of jars and bottles. And also bones. Some of these definitely human.

“Are that those shackles?”, Charles murmured and true enough there was a pair manacles lying on the floor, right next to a decidedly human-looking rib cage.

“This place is making my skin crawl. Maybe we should-” A whinny cut him off, the sound coming from the back of the room.

“Charles!”

“I heard it.”

In the far corner, next to a bubbling cauldron – and why the hell it was bubbling even though there was no one tending the fire he didn't want to know – was an upturned crate with a crow perched on top. Inside Artemis was neighing excitedly. Avoiding the various rubble littering the floor Charles walked to the crate. Not liking the visitors very much the crow flapped its wings in indignation and fluttered over to a branch sticking through an opening between two boards, still keeping a watchful eye on them.

“Okay, wait here.” Charles took him off of his shoulder again, one hand around his waist, the other supporting his feet, and set him down on one of the tables before bending down to inspect Artemis' prison. While Arthur paced the edge of the table, unable to stand still, Charles carefully lifted the crate, freeing Artemis, although the mare made no attempt to move, instead standing still in the same spot as before.

When nothing jumped out to attack them or unleash hellish mayhem Arthur allowed himself to relax a little.

“Sooo”, Charles started. “What now?”

Which made for an excellent question. They had found Missy and yet he was still tiny.

“Maybe I need to touch her?”

“Maybe.”

Charles put him down right next to Artemis and he tentatively reached out to pat her neck, having to stend on his toes to reach. He wasn't sure what he was expecting – perhaps a jolt of electricity or the tingle of magic – but nothing happened. Artemis hardly even reacted to him either.

Suddenly the crow raised a ruckus, squawking and hopping onto the cauldron. It gazed at Arthur expectantly. When he didn't react it flapped its wings again and squawked again but this time it almost sounded like a human voice saying the word “drink”. He looked at Charles, shifting his weight from one leg to the other while still holding on to Artemis. He made a face.

“I think I need to drink whatever's in that cauldron.” That muddy, bubbly goo.

“You sure about that?”

No.

“Yes. Let's just get it over with”, he ground out before he was tempteed to debate the wisdom of listening to crows and keeping his face as neutral as he could because he could feel Charles' eyes on him. This was a bad idea but on the other hand – if drinking some mystery liquid on the behest of a probably cursed crow was what got him back to his old self he'd rather take his chances. Though when Charles held a steaming mug of goo in front of him, he suddenly felt a whole lot less sure. Taking a deep breath a leaned over the edge of the cup and drank. He thought he said something along the lines of it tasting like ass but the ground came rushing up to him and then everything went dark.

* * *

His head hurt. Actually it wasn't so much hurting as it was slowly being hacked to pieces by tiny little needles. Were needles used for hacking? No, that was knives. Mallets? Axes. Probably. He opened his eyes.

“Ow.” Instant regret. He raised his hand, slapping something in the process and rubbed his eyes, trying to relieve some of the pressure.

“Arthur?”

“Hnn.”

“You alive?”

“Hnng.”

“How are you feeling?”

“Hung over.” Oh boy, talking bad idea. He groaned.

A hand brushed through his hair before cupping the back of his head and raising his head of the ground.

“Here.”

A cup is pushed against his lips and after the first, careful sip he drinks the water greedily, the pounding in his head abiding somewhat. He dared opening his eyes. Charles was watching him intently, cup still in his hand and his brow creased.

“Ow”, he said again for good measure before pushing himself up on his elbows. “How long was I out?”

“About half a day. Give or take. After I took you out of the shack you started growing-” He looked around at that to find that yes, everything seemed back to normal. “- as did Artemis so I figured it worked. Except you wouldn't wake up.”

There was an emotion in that sentence he'd need a whole lot more alcohol and a whole lot less hangover to untangle so he didn't even try.

“Yeah, sorry about that”, he said instead, pushing himself to unsteady legs, acutely aware of how Charles' hand hovered close. “Ready to get out of here?”

“Are you?”

He laughed (and regretted it). “I fled the law in worse shape than this. A nice ride with a headache ain't gonna be trouble.”

“Alright then, Arthur.”

Pulling himself into the saddle, slouching and pulling his hat over his eyes against the morning sun, he followed Charles' lead, eager to leave those godforsaken mountains with their witches and whatnot behind.

And to think all of this had started because he listened to Uncle.

**Author's Note:**

> Never thought I'd see the day where I write a fic because I can't afford a gaming pc and can't play rdr with all those cool mods but here we are :D If you don't know what I'm talking about check out this vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJBydHdk7Wc because tiny Arthur is hilarious :D
> 
> as always comments are greatly appreciated ♥♥♥


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